CNN: Obama approval holding steady … at 42%

posted at 5:21 pm on July 23, 2014 by Ed Morrissey

From the Lipstick on the Pig Department, CNN reports that its latest polling shows “no Katrina moment” for Barack Obama. That, however, is rather cold comfort, as even CNN allows, because the steady level of the President’s job approval rating puts him underwater by double digits. The only good news is that the approval-disapproval levels haven’t shifted southward in the wake of the VA scandal, ISIS’ expansion, and the escalations in Gaza and Ukraine:

President Barack Obama’s poll numbers are nothing to brag about, but there’s little evidence he has suffered so far this year a “Katrina moment” that caused his predecessor’s numbers to plummet.

A new CNN/ORC International survey indicates that public opinion of the President has barely budged in the wake of new challenges that Obama has faced this year.

According to the poll, which was released Wednesday, the President’s approval rating among Americans stands at 42%. That’s not great, but it’s basically unchanged since March.

Only 42% believe that Obama can manage the government effectively. Again, nothing to celebrate, but it’s virtually unchanged from the 43% who felt that way in March.

That may not mean that Obama hasn’t suffered a “Katrina moment,” though. It just changes when it may have occurred. From late 2011 to mid-2013, the CNN series on Obama’s job approval mostly put it at either a majority or plurality, with only a rare plurality for disapproval and never outside of the margin of error. As late as May 2013, Obama’s approval rating was 53/45 — in a survey taken right before the exposure of both the IRS and NSA scandals. One month later, it flipped to 45/54 and has been underwater outside of the MOE since, with majority disapproval every poll. The trend on leadership has much fewer data points, but exhibits a similar trend. Independents have his job approval at 34/62, and he’s even estranged women at 45/52 and young voters (18-34) narrowly at 45/49.

Interestingly, Obama’s other personal qualities seem to be holding up a little better, but still should have Democrats worried — especially on how voters relate to their party’s leader. On the question of whether Obama “generally agrees with you on issues you care about,” Obama dropped to 43/56, narrowly the worst rating ever (was 44/56 in the wake of the ObamaCare rollout debacle). In May of last year, it was 51/47. The relentless focus on issue non-sequiturs over the last several months seems to have taken its toll on Obama, and other Democrats still talking about a “war on women” and income inequality should take notice of that trend in particular. For women, that’s now 45/53, and among independents it’s an abysmal 35/63.

He’s also dropped to 46/53 on “shares your values,” the lowest rating ever and the first time Obama’s been underwater on this question when the entire sample was surveyed on it. Among women, it’s 46/52, and independents it’s 39/60, slightly better than the questions above but still horrid. He’s still carrying the youth vote at 52/46 but losing every other age demo decisively, and every income demo as well.

CNN suggests that ObamaCare may be gaining more support, but that’s a narrow reading of the data, too:

More than half the public says Obamacare has helped either their families or others across the country, although less than one in five Americans say they have personally benefited from the health care law, according to a new national poll.

A CNN/ORC International survey also indicates that a majority of Americans oppose the Affordable Care Act, but that some of that opposition is from people who don’t think the measure goes far enough.

Yes, and … that’s always been the case. As far as the trend goes, there isn’t one. Eighteen percent think their family is better off with the law, which is exactly what it was in September 2010 and one point off from September 2013 (17%). Thirty-five percent think their family is worse off, slightly down from 40% last September but almost within the MOE, and just two points off from September 2010’s 37%. That’s not improvement — it’s stasis. In fact, the only real trend seen in this series is a decline in perception of improvement for others — from 43% in March 2010 to 35% today, while “not help anyone” has gone from 29% when the ACA passed Congress to 44% today.

ObamaCare fares similarly when asked as approval/disapproval, too. It gets a 40/59, about mid-range for the series and almost identical to March’s 39/57. Women oppose it 42/57, as do 18-34 year olds, and independents rate it at 34/63. Those earning under $50,000 a year, who should be the target demo for the bill, oppose it by 20 points, 39/59.

If this poll result from ObamaCare is the Great Democratic Hope for the midterms, they’d better start investing in crying towels now while they’re cheap.

Update: Guy Benson offers his own take on the poll, especially on the idea that this is in any way positive about ObamaCare.

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I’d love to see CNN’s polling sample, but usually they never publish that. Wonder why?

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As I said the other day, it only took O’bama a few months longer than it took Chimpy Bush to get to the low 40s in job approval.

But in the case of Chimpy, the Democrat Media had been sabotaging his Presidency for years. On the other hand, that same Democrat Media has been propping up their Cult Leader for an equal amount of time.

It speaks volumes that they can’t get him above the low 40s. Heck, al-AP could only get a 5-point job approval bump for him after he killed bin Laden, and even then they had to sample twice as many Democrats as Republicans to get that result.

You could sample the 20-30 somethings in my office and most of them wouldn’t know anything about IRS scandal or Fast and Furious. For sure they haven’t heard about the VA or Benghazi. All they know is that Obama would be doing better if the Republicans wouldn’t block everything he tries to fix.

I overheard one today say, “What’s this I hear about Israel attacking Gaza and killing kids?…that’s horrible!”

More than half the public says Obamacare has helped either their families or others across the country, although less than one in five Americans say they have personally benefited from the health care law, according to a new national poll.

They stretch the truth to make it appear better than it is because it’s not standing on its own. From the link:

According to the poll, only 18% of the public say they or their families are better off now that the major provisions of the health care law have been implemented.

18%

Another 35% report that, while their lives have not improved, the Affordable Care Act has benefited other people in the U.S. Add those two numbers together, and that means 53% say that Obamacare has helped either their families or others across the country.

So 18% think they or their family is better off, and 35% correctly think it benefited “other people in the U.S.”

The liberal media, (who have been politically/ideologically invested in supporting the liberal progressive agenda) will do everything in their “editorial rooms” to project that the upcoming midterm blows to the Democratic Party will be minimal. But the facts are just too numerous to hide, most importantly the amount of Democrats who have adamantly requested their President not appear with them on the same stage—a clear statement of no confidence, and what you won’t see in the polls.

The question is not that Democrats will lose in this next cycle, but how much.

I think that King Barack enjoys a solid core of about 33% true believers. The King could shit on the US Constitution at high noon on the National Mall in front of the entire MSM and those people would cheer.

About another 9% brought his bullshit and continue to back him because their ego won’t let them admit they got suckered.

And remember how the Presstitutes howled over the secret video of Romney pondering that 47% are depending upon government largess and will not vote for freedom? It looks like this 40% is a promising trend with a little over 90 days before ‘The Great Decision Day – 2014’.
As we all know, if Putt was scrutinized by the Presstitutes and the rest of the Manipulating Stories Machine (or as was mentioned earlier a member of the Bush clan) his numbers would be in the twenties. They’ll never to go lower because of the (hopefully shrinking) moron voter contingent.